In the near future, the demand of electric energy is expected to increase rapidly due to the global population growth and industrialization. This increase in energy demand requires electric utilities to increase their generation. Recent studies predict that the world's net electricity generation is expected to rise from 17.3 trillion kilowatt-hours in 2005 to 24.4 trillion kilowatt-hours (an increase of 41%) in 2015 and 33.3 trillion kilowatt-hours (an increase of 92.5%) in 2030, as described in Energy Information Administration. (“International Energy Outlook, 2011,”—incorporated herein by reference). Currently, a large share of electricity is generated from fossil fuels, especially coal due to its low prices. However, the increasing use of fossil fuels accounts for a significant portion of environmental pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, which are considered the main reason behind global warming. For example, the emissions of carbon dioxide and mercury are expected to increase by 35% and 8%, respectively, by the year 2020 due to the expected increase in electricity generation, as described in U.S. Energy Information Administration, (“U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions in early 2012 lowest since 1992”—incorporated herein by reference). Moreover, possible depletion of fossil fuel reserves and unstable price of oil are two main concerns for industrialized countries.
To overcome the problems associated with generation of electricity from fossil fuels, Renewable Energy Sources (RES) can participate in the energy mix. Also the deregulation in electricity markets and the development of the distributed generation (DG) technologies are promoting the use of RES in power generation, as described in International Confederation of Energy Regulators, (“Renewable Energy and Distributed Generation: International Case Studies on Technical and Economic Considerations,” International Confederation of Energy Regulators 21 Feb. 2012—incorporated herein by reference). Among the renewable energy sources (RES), solar energy is the promising and photovoltaic (PV) system provides the most direct method to convert solar energy into electrical energy without environmental contamination. As PV cells are semiconductor devices, they are quite, static, having no moving or rotating parts, require very little maintenance and have very low operational cost as compared to other RES like wind energy. Despite the intermittency of sunlight, numerous PV systems have been developed in many countries around the world because of their long term benefits, benevolent fed in tariff initiatives and other schemes offered by governments to encourage the use of renewable energy sources (RES). The use of photovoltaic (PV) systems for electricity generation started in the seventies of the 20th century and is currently growing rapidly worldwide. In fact, many organizations expect a bright future for these systems because it is abundant, ubiquitous, sustainable, environmental friendly and free of cost. The world's cumulative installed capacity of PV was 23 GW in year 2009. In 2011, more than 69 GW of PV power is installed worldwide that can generate 85 TWh of electricity per year. Among all the RES the growth rate of PV power is incomparable and reached almost 70% in year 2011, as described in (EPIA) Industry Association, (“Global Market Outlook For Photovoltaics Until 2016,”, Europian Photovoltaic, 2012—incorporated herein by reference). The European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) expects that the global cumulative PV capacity will reach 200 GW by the year 2020 and 800 GW by the year 2030. This large increase in the deployment of PV generation has led the researchers to work on the different issues of photovoltaic like PV cells material, modeling of the PV panel, maximum power point tracking algorithms, power electronics converter used to integrate PV array with grid and its impact on power system etc.